Internet access is currently being offered in a wide variety of public and private settings through wireless connections. Users are becoming more dependent on such widespread access. However, data communications such as web usage, file transfer, multimedia applications, and other popular applications place high demand on wireless data connections. Often, these experiences are unlike the broadband experience provided in workplace and home environments, as extensive, unpredictable latency is a common characteristic of a wireless connection.
One of the ways to provide a predictable user experience for data communication is to adapt the content that is delivered to the user based on current network conditions. Techniques have been proposed to monitor network conditions for wired networks, but these techniques typically have very high overhead and provide inaccurate estimates for typical wireless networks.